Spaceband rail for typesetting machines



Oct. 25, 1932. E, NE 1,884,977

SPACEBAND RAIL FOR TYPESETTING MACHINES Filed Nov. 4. 1930 Patented Oct.25, 1932 PATENT oFFicE EDWARD c. JONES, or HOQUIAM, WASHINGTONs'PAcEBANn RAIL Eon TYPESEFTTI'NG MACHINES Application filed November 4,1930. "Serial No. 493,358.

' This invention relates to spaceband rails for typesetting machines.

In typesetting machines of the kind to which my invention relates,namely, the so 5 called linotype machines, a spaceband rail is employedwhich in the standard machines in common use has a rounded upper edgeand is of approximately 115 thousandths of an inch in thickness'betweenits upper and lower edges and varies in height from'728 thousandths ofan inch to approximately 918 thousandths of an inch. The spacebandswhich are used on this machine, and which slide on the said spacebandrail for transfer from the first elevator to the spaceband'box,

have slotted or forked lower ends to straddle the rail, and the slots ofsuch forked ends of the spacebands vary usually in width from anoriginalwidth of 128 thousandths of an inch upto a width of 130thousandths of an inch or greater according to the age of-the spacebandand degree of wear thereof.- This original excess in width of thespaceband slot over that of the rail is provided in-order that thespaceband may have a certain degree of lateral pivotal motion on therail for flexibility of travel. The width of the spaceband slot relativeto that of the rail, however, is such in conjunction with the reducedwidth of the rounded upper edge of the rail that the spacebandis'p'ermitted to twist 'or tilt laterally on the rail to a degree,increased by wear, that a binding of the spacebands on the railfrequently takes place. When this spaceband trouble, as it is known,occurs, there is 'a stoppage of feed of the spacebands which must bemanually corrected from time to time bytheoperator, resulting in loss oftimeand-liability of irregularities in the action of the machine, andbending or breakage of "spacebands is also liable to happen with chokingof the feed from dropping of broken parts of spacebands. onto the firstelevator in'the'transfer of the line of matrices from thefirst elevatorto the second elevator. The ,usepf side springs for'the purpose ofpreventing spaceband trouble of the character described has beenresorted to, but these add to'the' complexity of the machine.

Another difficulty encountered in the travel of the spacebands is thetendency of the spacebands to swing too high as they leave the rail andenter the spacebox whereby they are liable to jam'or be bent or broken.

One object of my invention is to provide a spaceband rail which allowsample freedom of motion of the spacebands, while preventing lateraltilting motion of the spacebands to such a degree as to cause them tobind, and

without the necessity of using a side spring such as is somtimesemployed for the purpose.

" Another object of the invention is to provide a spaceband rail whichreduces wear and tear on thespacebands and prevents breakage thereof andthe deleterious consequences resulting therefrom,

Still another object of the invention is to provide a spaceband railwhich will fit the usual grooved rail supporting block and whicheliminates or reduces spaceband troubles to such an extent as toincrease the setting capacity of the machine ten per cent or more perworking day.

' Still another object of the invention is to provide means for limitingthe upswing movement in the passage of the spacebands from the rail tothe space box, thereby preventing the stated difficulties encountered atthis point in their course of travel.

The invention consists of the features of construction, combination andarrangement of :parts, hereinafter fully described and claimed,reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 isavertical transverse section through the rail supporting block andspaceband box and showing my improved rail therein and a spacebandengaging the same.

Fig. 2 is .a cross-section through the rail and forked lower end of aspaceband engaging the same on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 3 is a top plan View of my improved v rail and a horizontaltransverse section through the forked lower end of a spaceband engagingthe same, showing the relative width of the slot in the spaceband andthat of the portion of the rail which it engages.

Fig. 4 is a side view of my improved rail.

Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 2 of an ordiary construction of railand a spaceband enaging the same.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the rail shown in Fig. 5 and a horizontalsection through the spaceband thereon, showing in dotted lines thelateral tilting and binding of the spacebau d which my invention isdesigned to avoid.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, 1 designates theintermediate channel or guideway of a linotype machine, 2 the space railsupporting bar at the base of the channel, 3 a space rail constructed inaccor ance with my invention, and 4 a spaceband having a lowerbifurcated end to straddle and slide upon the upper portion of the rail,the

slot 5 the bifurcated end of the spaceband being of a depthsubstantially equal to that of the upper half of the rail. The bar 2, asshown, is slotted or groovedat 6 to receive the lower edge of the rail,which is thereby fitted in position. The lower half of the rail may beprovided as usual with openings 7 for passage of fastening devices tohold it from upward and endwise displacement.

in order that a better understanding of the invention may beobtained,reference is made to Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawing showing aspace rail 3 and spaceband P of standard type. This standard rail is ofa width of 0.115 of an inch to fit the correspondingly sized groove orslot 6 in the bar 2, and is provided with a transversely curved orrounded upper edge, while the width of the slot 5 in the spaceband isinitially 0.118 of an inch. Due to this rounded form of the upper edgeof the rail and relative widths of the upper half of the rail and slotin the spaceband, the spaceband is permitted to tilt latorally from anormal position at right angles to the rail, as shown in full lines inFig. 6, to a position at an angle to the rail, as shown in dotted linesin Fig. 6, which tendency of the spaceband to tilt is increased withincrease of looseness due to wear on the rail and walls of the slottedend of the spaceband, whereby the width of the former is increased andthat of the latter decreased. As a result of this tilting motion ofassembled spacebands the spacebands bind or ball up and cause stoppageof the travel of the spaceband and matrices. This occurs quitefrequently in some machines and requires the attention of the operatorwho must periodically release the balled parts, causing much trouble andloss of time in the setting action. Another objection is that in atransfer action of the spaceband as it leaves the space rail andenters'the spaceband box, the spaceband is liable to swing too high andcause stoppage at point. Besideathese improper motions of the spacebandsoften cause twisting and breaking of the spacebands, and, in .case ofbreakage of spacebands, parts thereof fall onto the first elevator andcause choking of the feed between the first and second elevators.

My invention is designed to overcome these objections and the spacebandrail 3 is made of novel construction for the purpose.

The rail 3 may be of standard length (91% inches) and height (from 728to about 918 thousandths of an inch)- and provided with the usualbeveled ends 8 to facilitate the sliding of the spacebands on and oflthe same,

and the lower half 9' of the rail is made of standard width (115thousandths of an inch) to fit the groove or slot 6 in the standard railsupporting bar 2. The upper half 10 of the rail, however, is of greaterwidth or thickness than its lower half, or from 118 to 128 thousandthsof an inch and is provided with a square, i. e., straight transverseupper edge 11 arranged at right angles to itssides. A rail with an upperhalf of 0.118. of aninch thickness will fit the slot 5 of the spacebandsufficiently snug in view of thesquare form of the edge 11 to prevent anew or unworn spaceband from turning or twisting to an undue extent andthe square edge will prevent it from laterally tilting on the rail,'sothat even when the spaceband and/or rail are worn to certain degrees thespaceband may turn only to an extent to ensure ease of motion and not toa suflicient extent to cause it to bind on the rail. Balling up fof thespaceband and breakage of the bands from twisting will accordingly beprevented as well as time losses and labor spent in releasing balledspacebands and removing broken parts. Rails with upper portions ofvarying thicknesses above 0.118 to 0.128 are employed to enable theimproved results to be obtained on machines employing old and wornbands.To prevent the spacebands from'swinging too high as they leave thespaceband rail and enter the spaceband box, I provide the spaceband andrail with a stop or retarding pin 12 which touches the lower end of eachspaceband as it leaves the rail and holds the lower end of the spacebandback untilthe upper end thereof is pulled into the spaceba'nd box farenough to permit the band to slide freely over said pin.

A spaceband rail embodying my improved construction ensures propertransfer of the spacebands from the first elevator to: the spaceband boxand thus does-away with ball:- ing and other spaceband troubles withoutthe use of a side spring as used on alltype= setting machines employingsuch spacebands. Such rails have been in daily use for many months onthe typesetting machines of a newspaper plant with an entire eliminationof spaceband amming, breakages and other troubles and with the result ofobviating stoppages and enabling an operator to set ten percent moretype than was possible with the same machines before the rails wereinstalled. '1 7? Having thus fully described my invention, I claim In atypesetting machine, a spaceband guide including a grooved bar, a railhaving a lower portion fitted in the groove of the bar and an upperportion of a width greater than said lower portion, and a spacebandhaving a lower slotted end to slide on the upper edge of the bar, saidupper portion of the bar of greater width having a straight transverseedge and of such width with respect to the slot of the spaceband as topre- 7

